In what they call an "extraparliamentary query," a group of 40 economists and legal experts has sent an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel recommending that Germany not ratify the ESM. They call on the government to stop the policy of "conditional rescue packages," which they say have long since been discredited in past interventions into Ibero-America’s crises. The group also asks the government about scientific surveys that prove that Germany has benefitted from the euro, which they doubt, and that furthermore prove that Germany would really suffer disadvantages from a return to the D-mark.
"Madam Chancellor, stop this policy," the open letter states. "The German people has the right to be comprehensively informed about potential alternatives to the ESM and about the motives behind your policy. Regrettably, none of the parliamentary groups in the German Bundestag has insisted this right be respected."
The 40 signers on the letter include Ulrich van Suntum (Muenster), Ronald G. Asch (Freiburg), Charles B. Blankart (Berlin), Matthias Erley (Clausthal-Zellerfeld), Carola Groppe (Hamburg) and Volker Grossmann (Fribourg, Switzerland).
